Towel dispenser



Y July 16, 1957 G. N. AxvALl.

TOWEL. DISPENSER Filed March 27, 1953 5 Sheet's-Sheet l INVENTOR 60mn/v M #x1/ALL n@ rfopA/i/ G. N. AXVALL July 16, 1957 TOWEL DISPENSER Filed March 27, 1953 l 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 'aa/v /M ,4m/4u I 8%@ rraPA/ir I G. N. AxvALL 2,799,429

Jl'y 1s, 1957 TOWEL DISPENSER 9 A 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed llarch 27, 1953` irma/ vir 2,799,429 Patented July-16, 1957 TOWEL DSPENSER Gordon N. Axvall, Burbank, Calif., assignor of one-half to Wilfred H. West, Oakland, and one-half to John l). Kirby, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application March 27, 1953, Serial No. 345,209

3 Claims. (Cl. 221-15) My invention relates to means for dispensing towels, especially paper towels, from cabinets of the type customarily found in wash rooms.

VMany of the towel dispensing devices now in use are susceptible of misuse, particularly of waste, by irresponsible or inattentive persons, owing to the ease with which an excessive number of towels can be extracted from such devices.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a towel dispenser speedy and convenient in operation yet conducive to proper towel use. n

lt is also an object of my invention to provide a towel dispenser having a mode of operation apparent to any user and without requiring special instructions concerning the method of use.

lt is a further object of my invention to provide a towel dispenser requiring the use only of one hand to effect the withdrawal of a towel.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide a towel dispenser in which the towels are one by one made accessible to the user.

Another object of my invention is to provide a towel dispenser having a rapidly operating mechanism for making each towel readily accessible to the users grasp, but which requires manual withdrawal of each towel before the next towel can be made available.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a generally improved towel dispenser.

Other objects, together with the foregoing, are attained in the embodiment of my invention described in the accompanying description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a plan of a towel dispenser in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is a side elevation showing the mechanism in position at the start of the dispensing cycle.

Figure 4 is a cross-section of a portion of the structure in the position shown in Figure 3, taken along the plane indicated by the line 4--4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a side elevation showing the mechanism in position at the end of the lever-actuated portion of the dispensing cycle.

Figure 6 is a cross-section comparable to Figure 4 but showing the structure at the end of the lever-actuated portion of the cycle.

Figure 7 is a cross-section of a portion of the mechanism on the lower right hand side of Figure 2, taken along the offset vertical plane indicated by the line 7-7 or" Figure 3.

Figure 8 is a cross-section along the plane indicated by the line 8 8 of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a partly sectional and partly diagrammatic view of the rotating mechanism at the start and at the end of the dispensing cycle.

Figure l0 is a view ,comparable to that of Figure 9, Abut showing the position of the mechanism at the end of the lever-actuated portion of the cycle.

rates Patent 'iiiice Figure 1l is an end elevation of the structure on the lower left hand side of Figures l and 2, on the plane indicated by the line 11--11 of Figure 2.

Formed within a box frame 6 of my towel dispenser is a towel stacking compartment l7 and, conveniently, a separate pair of rotor bearing compartments 8. The towel stacking compartment 7 comprises a back wall 16 and a pair of partial front walls 17 separated by an open portion permitting, along with the open compartment top, ease of access for stacking, re-arranging or removing towels. Common side walls 18 separate the stacking compartment 7 from the rotor bearing compartments 8.

A pair of inwardly projecting shelves 19, mounted near the bottom of the front and back walls, support a stack of towels 2l. Although not limited thereto, I prefer to utilize towels of the kind shown and described in Wilfred H. West Patents No. 2,477,223, dated July 26, 1949; No. 2,534,645, dated December 19, 1950; and No. 2,440,993, dated May 4, 1948.

The shelves conveniently are formed with an arcuate contour in cross-section and have their towel supporting surface 23 somewhat flattened in order to otfer a greater area of towel support. The supporting surface is so located with respect to the transverse width of the towel stack as to maintain the towels in a substantially horizontal position and thus permit the maximum possible number of towels to be loaded in the compartment. Each of the supporting surfaces is spaced from the other to allow the corner tab 22 of the lower fold of the lowermost towel to hang downwardly at least to within the arcuate path 24 of a rotor blade 26.

In order to dispense individual towels, I provide means adapted for cyclic operation, for dispensing one of the towels for each cycle of operation. Included in such means are a pair of rotors 27 for deecting, engaging and advancing a towel, and which are operative whether the towel tab 22 depends from the left or from the right (as is shown in Figure 4).

The pair of rotors 27 are rotatably mounted on opposite side walls of the frame 6, with their axles 28 journaled therein, and rotate about parallel axes of rotation 29. Each or" the rotors comprises a pair of circular washers 3l, at each end, fastened to the axle 23 by a set screw 32. The circular washers of one of the rotors ordinarily bear against the corresponding washers of the other rotor and serve to maintain the axes of rotation 29 in a substantially fixed relationship.

While a satisfactory spatial relationship between the adjacent rotors can be achieved by means of fixed axle bearings, I prefer to provide means for urging one of the rotors against the other, resulting in increased frictional force between the rotors at their line of tangency. The rotor stub axles 2S of one of the rotors (for example, the left hand rotor of Figure l1) are journaled at each end of the rotor in a lower arm 33 of a lever 34 pivoted about a pivot pin 36. An upper arm 37 of the lever is urged in a direction away from the xed journaled rotor by means such as a tension spring 38 mounted on a bracket 39 mounted on the frame. By varying the spring constant, and relative lengths of the lever arms 33 and 37, any desired compressive or frictional force between the rotors may be obtained. A slot 41 in the end walls of the frame permits of some transverse motion of the axle 28, such as might occur during rotation of the rotors owing to irregularities in rotor contour.

Curved around a portion only of the periphery of each of the washers 31, and fastened thereto, as by screws 42, is an interrupted platen 43 or roller for deflecting, engaging and advancing the lowermost towel of the towel stack.

At the start of the towel dispensing cycle, the rotor platens 43 are in the position shown most clearlyin Figure 4. The open or interrupted portions of the platens face upwardly and somewhat toward each other, permitting the portion 22 of the downwardly hanging towel fold tofdloopl into the hollow interior cavity 44.01? the rotor. Upon rotation of the rotors in the direction indicated by the arrows 46, the blade 26 of the left hand rotor in Figure 4 comes into contact with the top of the tab portion 22 of the towel fold and detiects the tab downwardly and around a dellector bar 47 located just above and very closeto the line of tangency 4S or contact line of the rotors. As the rotors continue their rotation, the towel tab is seized between the platens along their line of contact, and by so engaging the tab, the platens feed or advance the towel as rotation continues. The clamping eect of the platens may be varied to suit the thickness or texture of the towels, should this be found necessary, by changing the constant of the lever spring 3S, or varying the moment arm of the arm 37 as by providing additional holes 35 in the arm 37 to receive the hook 40 of spring 38.

Frictional engagement between the rotors is frequently adequate to mainta-in a xed phase relationship of rotation as between the rotors. I prefer, however, in this embodiment of my invention, to have a more nearly positive means of maintaining the rotors in phase, such as by intermeshing gear teeth 51 on the periphery of rotor gears 52, mounted on stub axles 28 and secured thereto by set screws 53.

A frictional drive may also be used to rotate the rotors but preferably I provide a driving wheel 56 having gear teeth 57 around the periphery thereof to engage with rotor gear teeth 51. The driving wheel is journaled for free rotation on a shaft 58 mounted on the frame 6 and having an axis 59 parallel to the rotor axes 29. On the outer face of the driving wheel I provide a cammed slot 61 having a stop wall 62 at one end of the slot and a tapered bottom 63 sloping from the bottom of the stop wall 62 to the outer face of the driving wheel. The cammed or tapered slot conveniently assumes the shape of a truncated sector of a circle as appears most clearly in Figures 9 and 10.

At the start and at the end of the dispensing cycle, the cammed slot sector is in the position shown in Figure 9, that is, with the stop wall vertical.

Abutting the stop wall and touching the tapered bottom of the slot is a driving pin 66, square in section, slidable in a cavity 67 drilled through a pinion gear 68 and conformed to the shape of the pin as by broaching, for example, to a shape square in cross-section, to avoid rotation of the pin in the cavity, although permitting free translation of the pin. The portion of the pin in contact with the bottom of the cammed slot, at 69, -is provided with a similar curved or cammed contour to assist in translating the pin as it traverses the tapered slot surface.

A leaf spring`71 urges the pin 66 toward the driving wheel.

The pinion gear 68 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 58 and forms, along with the driving wheel 56, the cammed slot 61 and spring-urged pin 66, a clutch generally designated as 72 held in xed relationship on the shaft by a washer 73.

I provide manually operated means for operating the clutch 72 through only part of one towel dispensing cycle.l Pivotally mounted about a pivot 79 on the frame 6 is a lever arm 81 with a handle 82 for the users convenience in depressing the lever.

In accordance with my invention, I also provide mechanism interconnecting the manually operated lever 81 to the pinion 68.

Rockablymounted about a pivot 83 on the lever arm is a frame 84 comprising a backing portion 86 and a rack 87 or toothed portion. Urging the rack and lever arm upward against an upper stop 88 is a tension spring 89 lfastened yat oneend 91 to the frame 6 and at the other end to the-rack frame.

The rack is held in engagement with the pinion by an idler wheel 92 and lateral motion of the rack is prevented by a guide 93.

At the start of the dispensing cycle, the lever assumes under urgency of the spring 89 an uppermost position determined by the location of the upper stop 88. The rst fraction of the cycle comprises a manually operated or lever-actuated portion, as the lever is depressed from the uppermost position to a lowermost position where the rack frame 86 abuts a lower stop 94, mounted on a rotor, for example, the left hand rotor of Figure 5.

As the lever and rack proceed downwardly, the pinion 68 is rotated in a clockwise fashion, as viewed in Figures 3 and 5, carrying the pin detent 66 from the six oclock position shown in Figures 9 and lO, clockwise as indicated by the arrow 95, to approximately a five oclock position, and there stops owing to abutment of the rack frame and lower pin stop. By reason of the detent pins engagement with the stop wall of the cammed slot in the driving wheel, the driving wheel is rotated a corresponding amount, and likewise the rotor platens are rotated for deflection, engagement and advancement of the towel to the position shown in Figure 6.

Upon release of the manually operated lever arm, the lever and rack are returned by spring urgency to uppermost position, Concurrently, the pinion is rotated counter-clockwise by the ascending rack, the pinion carrying with it the pin detent. As the pin is revolved, the tapered portion of the cammed slot forces the pin to translate away from the driving wheel and to disengage therefrom. Counter-clockwise pinion rotation is indicated by arrow 96 of Figure l0. The detent pin 66 is revolved from a tive oclock position counter-clockwise to a six oclock position.

The detent pin is revolvable through an arc of something less than 360 degrees by manual operation of the lever, and the driving wheel is rotated by the clutch means the same amount. Owing to the construction of the cammed slot and detent pin the pinion is elective to rotate the driving wheel in one direction only. For these reasons, the driving wheel is not further rotatable by the pinion and thus additional or repeated lever actuation is ineffective further to rotate the driving wheel and rotors. The lever-actuated portion of the cycle is thus completed and additional towels will not be fed out of the cabinet merely by depressing the lever arm; excessive or wasteful use of towels is thereby discouraged.

However, when the user grasps the depending towel 95 (see Figure 6) and pulls it downwardly as shown by the arrow of Figure l0, he obtains the towel, completes the cycle, and returns the driving wheel to a position of engagement with the detent pin so as to start the next towel dispensing cycle. Frictional engagement between the towel and rotor platens rotates the platens until towel and platens disengage. This additional rotation of the platens rotates the driving wheel through the are and in the clockwise direction indicated by the arrow 97, and at this point the detent pin is again able to slide into the cammed slot and the second or hand-operated portion of the dispensing cycle is completed.

Concurrently with the rotation of the rotors in the second portion of the cycle, the lower stop 94 and the left hand rotor of Figure l0 are revolved through the are and in the direction shown by the arrow 98 while the right hand rotor of Figure l0 is rotated a similar amount in the opposite direction, thus completing the entire cycle and positioning the mechanism for the neXt towel dispensing cycle.

What is claimed is:

l. In a towel dispenser having means for supporting a towel with its lower fold hanging downwardly, and having a pair of rotors geared to rotate in phase for deecting, engaging and advancing said towel, the cornbination of a driving wheel geared to one of said rotors for rotation thereof, said driving wheel having a cammed slot therein forming a single axial shoulder, a pinion mounted coaxially with said driving Wheel; a springurged pin disposed to slide axially within said pinion into driving engagement in one direction of pinion rotation with said shoulder, a rack engaging said. pinion, means for advancing said rack and rotating said pinion in said one direction with said pin in driving engagement with said shoulder, means for retracting said rack and rotating said pinion in the opposite direction with said pin out of driving engagement with said shoulder,l and means dependent upon a manual advance of the towel for rotating said driving wheel and reestablishing said pin in driving engagement with said shoulder.

2. In a towel dispenser having a cabinet formed t0 receive a stack of paper towels, a pair of shelves disposed on opposite sides of said cabinet to support the towels stacked therein, a iirst rotor disposed beneath one of said shelves for rotation on a fixed axis, and a second rotor disposed beneath the other of said shelves, the combination of means for mounting said second rotor for `rotation about an axis movable toward and away from said ixed axis, means for urging said second rotor toward tangency with said first rotor, means for rotating said rotors in phase, a lever arm pivoted on said cabinet, a rack pivotally connected with said lever arm, a pinion engaging said rack, a uni-directional clutch means connected between said pinion and said rotors, and means for stopping said rotor short of a complete rotation.

3. In a towel dispenser having means for supporting a folded towel With its lower fold hanging downwardly, and a pair of rotors for engaging said lower fold and advancing said towel, the combination of a rack movable between a first position and a second position, a pinion gear engaged with and rotatable by said rack, a drive gear for driving said rotors, a uni-directional clutch between said pinion gear and said drive gear, said clutch being in driving engagement in only one relative position of the parts thereof, a stop pin on one of said rotors engaging said rack in said second position thereof and preventing further rotation of said rotors, means for restoring said rack to said first position thereof and moving said part of said uni-directional clutch out of said one position of driving engagement, and means eiective upon further rotation of said rotor by manual further advance of said towel for moving said parts of said unidirectional clutch into said one position of driving engagement.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,118,627 Steiner May 24, 1938 2,337,065 Price Dec. 21, 1943 2,440,993 West May 4, 1948 2,534,645 West Dec. 19, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 11,117 Great Britain of 1899 458,987 France of 1913 

